Singapore Speed Climbing Comp Celebrates Marina Bay Sands Hotel Opening

One of the year's stranger climbing events took place in Singapore back in late June. The event, a climbing competition called the "World Championship Climb to the Sky(park)," was part of the grand opening celebration of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino on June 23. The hotel itself is a stunning $5.5-billion building with three 57-floor towers connected by a roof deck with the Skypark, an area of gardens, restaurants, and swimming pool.

Event manager Matt Robertson, an American ex-pat climber living in Taiwan, put together the competition, a speed-climbing team relay with seven teams of three climbers from different areas of the world--USA, China, UK, Singapore, Commonwealth, Canada, and Europe. The climbing wall was the 650-foot-high (200-meter) concave glass walls of the hotel. The walls, slabby at the bottom and overhanging at the top, presented, says Matt, "a perfect set-up for a climbing competition with dozens of identical fins that allow for a variety of climbing techniques including laybacking, off-widthing, and even dynoing to reach a small edge every 10 feet."

One member of each team raced up a fin and tagged the top before the next climber went. After the last team member reached the top, one of them ran up four flights of stairs and sprinted down the Skypark to the finish line. As the first place team--Team Singapore--crossed the finish line, seven sky-divers jumped from a hovering helicopter and floated over the Skypark.

ESPN Asia broadcast the climbing comp live to 24 countries, with Jim Waugh, former Phoenix Bouldering Contest and X-Games climbing organizer, providing color commentary. A few thousand people watched the event from Event Plaza next to Marina Bay, with Dominic Lau, a Hong Kong TV celebrity, and Matt Robertson entertaining the audience. After the skydivers landed in the bay, a bunch of musical acts played. Later Diana Ross provided entertainment for the climbing teams at a private VIP dinner.

Wow! This climbing comp was unusual. The climbers were treated like worthy rock stars and the venue was the opposite of the usual comp held in a dark gym with chalk motes hanging in the dusty air. The competition really was more of a celebration, as Matt wrote me, "There was a heavy production and media component to the whole affair and the event was somewhere between competition and performance." He also noted that the event was constrained by a strict time schedule dictated by the live ESPN coverage.

"All the climbers, however, were psyched to be involved, everyone had a great time, and it turned out to be an incredibly fun week for everyone involved." That's what it's all about--climbing has got to be fun. In fact, so much fun was had that Marina Bay Sands plans to hold the event on an annual basis.

Photographs above: (top) Team China climber Abond Liu practices at night for the speed climbing competition in Singamore. Photograph courtesy David Kaszlikowski. (Middle) Climbing the glass walls. Photograph courtesy Duncan Brown.(Bottom) Team China celebrates in the Skypark pool. Photograph courtesy Berlin Hsu.